Telescopic hot sticks are typically used in a high voltage electrical environment as well as other environments where a long reach is needed to access a workpiece located at a remote location, such as on a power pole or the like. Hot sticks are typically constructed of a suitable dielectric material and include a tool holder at an extremity thereof. The tool holder is adaptable to engage a wide array of different tools or the like.
This arrangement allows a user to perform a wide variety of tasks such as opening and closing various types of switches, replacing fuses, pruning tree limbs or replacing lamps in street circuits and rooms with high ceilings. Since the workpiece may be as far as 30 feet or more away from a user, telescoping hot sticks or poles provide a variable length to accommodate these tasks.
An example of a known hot stick is constructed of multiple sections of telescoping tubing which are provided with a circular cross-sectional shape. The first section of two adjacent sections includes an aperture at a female end thereof. A male end of an adjacent second section is slidingly engaged within the female end and includes a button assembly which engages the aperture of the first section when the second section is in an extended position.
To prevent unwanted removal of the second section from the first section and facilitate engagement of the button assembly with the aperture, the first section has a reduced diameter portion at the female end. The reduced diameter portion forms an interior annular rim therein while the button assembly of the second section includes an end wall which forms an outer annular flange. The outer annular flange engages the interior annular rim of the first section to prevent unwanted removal of the second section from the female end. Such an arrangement also facilitates engagement of the button assembly with the aperture whereupon the second section is slid until the outer annular flange abuts against the interior annular rim and then is rotated until a button of the button assembly is in registry with and engages or is received in the aperture of the first section.
Construction of such an arrangement requires inserting the second section through an open end of the first section opposite the female end. To prevent the second section from falling out of the open end, an end cap is required or, in the case of intermediate sections of the pole, securing of the button assembly is required. As a result, assembly of the sections together is done in sequence from smallest diameter section to largest.
While such an arrangement provides the desired telescoping function, locking one section in the extended position requires the acts of both sliding and rotating the section being locked. In addition, the overall length of the hot stick may not be easily varied due to a requirement that either the end cap or the button assembly be removed from an end of a section which may require tools or the like unavailable at the work site.
It is desirable, therefore, to provide a telescoping hot stick which permits ready locking of one section with respect to another section by a simple sliding movement. It is further desirable to be able to vary the maximum overall length and to provide for ready removal of one section with respect to another without having to disassemble any component parts.